The Interrogation of Lily Evans
by Leigh A. Sumpter
Summary: Lily and James have been going out for over two weeks now, which is the longest relationship James has ever endured. To ensure that James is making the proper decision, the Marauders kidnap Lily to ask her some questions.


**Author Note: **Hey everyone! So, after finishing _Completely Incomplete_, I realized that I wasn't completely over my Lily/James fix, so I decided to do a quick one-shot just because. The idea actually came to mind about an hour ago, and I thought it might be fun to do. Enjoy the story! I hope to hear from you. :)

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**The Interrogation of Lily Evans**

"Where are they?"

"They were supposed to be back here over an hour ago!"

"He_ never_ spends this much time with his girlfriends."

"They'd better show up soon… I'm getting a cramp in my neck."

"Be a man, Wormtail. This is very important business and we're doing it on behalf of our friend."

"He does have a point, though, Padfoot – they're taking an awfully long time. Can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"Listen to Moony!"

"No, mates, it _can't_ wait till tomorrow. We have to do it today."

"Why today?"

"Yeah… why _today_?"

"Because I said so! Now stop questioning me and listen."

Suddenly, the boys heard two familiar voices. They stopped their quiet bickering for a moment to see what the current state of their mission was.

"I had a nice time this afternoon," said Lily Evans, the sparkle in her eyes evident even from several feet away.

James Potter grinned. "Happy to hear it. Aren't you glad you finally said yes to me?"

"Well, I knew you'd dated every other girl in the school by now, so I thought it might be good for you to have some change in scenery. It's my way of trying to be a better person," Lily joked, returning the smile.

"Good woman, you are. Always looking out for my wellbeing." James bent down and kissed her, generating a positive response from both Lily and his friends.

"Way to go, mate!" Peter whispered from around the corridor, not realizing how much his voice could carry.

James pulled back suddenly, startled. "Did you hear something just now?" he asked.

"Aren't we paranoid?" Lily said with a laugh. "No, James, I didn't hear anything. But if I do find out that this corridor is haunted or something, I'll let you know."

"You're too kind to me," James responded, realizing that the noise was probably just other students who had wandered in. "Anyway, I'm late for Quidditch practice, so I'd better get to the pitch. Think you can manage an entire afternoon without me?"

"Manage? I don't think I'll be able to _survive_." Lily rolled her eyes at him, though she did so in a good-natured way. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "See you tonight?"

The two bid their goodbyes for the afternoon and thus parted ways. The remaining Marauders watched from under the Invisibility Cloak, and waited until James had disappeared.

As Lily turned the corner, she saw a hand suddenly reach out of nowhere and grasp onto her wrist. "Aaaack!" she screamed, not knowing what was going on. Was she being abducted? Suddenly, she felt herself become pulled underneath some kind of cloth-like material, where she noticed three familiar faces watching her closely.

"Surprise?" said Remus, trying to make light of the situation. He smiled weakly.

Lily furrowed her brow in confusion, once she realized that they were not strangers and that they were all under James's Invisibility Cloak. "And what, may I ask, are we all doing here?"

Sirius frowned at her. "We'll be the ones asking the questions. But first, you'll have to come with us."

"Well, ex_cuse_ me for wanting to know what the bloody hell is going on," Lily retorted. "You'd better have a good reason for this."

The boys led Lily down several flights of stairs, around five corridors, and through a door that led into some sort of dungeon that Lily had never seen before. There they finally pulled off the Cloak, and sat down in a circle.

"Now," Sirius told her, "down to business. First, we would like to know what your motives are with our dear friend James."

Lily crossed her arms stubbornly. "_That's_ why you forced me down here? Are you out of your _minds_?"

"Answer the question," Sirius challenged her.

"Fine." Lily sighed, exasperated at the situation. She could not believe what had just happened. "I fancy James. I want to spend some time with him. It's as simple as that. Why do you want to know?"

"Can we tell her?" Peter pleaded. "I feel really awful doing this."

"You _should_ feel awful," Lily said. "But thankfully one of you has a conscience, at least."

"Well, it's just that James has never kept a girlfriend for longer than two weeks. You're his first, so we wanted to approve of you before things became too serious," reasoned Remus.

Lily shook her head. "Honestly, boys. We've all known each other since we were eleven, and you haven't gathered enough information in that time to 'approve' or 'disapprove' of me?"

"Well, there was that stint you had going with Snivellus for quite a while," admitted Sirius. "How can we know for certain that he hasn't corrupted you over the years?"

"He never _corrupted_ me, you dolts," Lily replied angrily, as Severus Snape was still a sore subject for her. "Leave him out of this."

"Fine," said Sirius, "but we still have to finish the interrogation. What made you snap?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"He means to ask, what made you succumb to James in the first place?" Remus clarified. "After all, you've been turning him down for years. What made you change your mind?"

Lily's expression softened for a moment, remembering the moment fondly. "I suppose it was when I finally realized that it wasn't all a joke to him. In the past, I thought he was just asking me out because he knew it would bother me. But then we were sitting outside in the moonlight one night and he told me how he honestly felt."

"And?"

"And… I realized that I felt the same way." Lily bit her lip and smiled in spite of herself.

"So, the whole moonlight thing works on the ladies?" Peter asked excitedly. He made a mental note to himself.

"We don't have time for that kind of silliness, Peter. Moving on. We mentioned before that James never lasts more than two weeks with his girlfriends. What makes you so different?" asked Sirius.

"I'm incredibly patient," Lily told him in a mock-serious tone. "I even tolerated that time that his friends kidnapped me just to ask stupid questions."

"Now, now, Lily. I'm sure you would do the same for _your_ best friend, were she in the same situation as our James."

Lily laughed. "No, I probably wouldn't. If I wanted to interrogate Ava's latest boyfriend, I would probably do it in a less threatening manner."

"What do you plan on doing now that you and James are together?" Peter piped up.

"Well…" Lily trailed off, not quite sure how to answer the question. She sighed. "Anything it takes to make things work, I suppose. I really care about him."

"That's really sweet," remarked Peter. "Isn't it, Sirius?"

"What is it about James that appeals to you?" Remus asked. "I mean, you well know that his family has a _lot_ of money."

Lily shook her head. "It has nothing to do with money. It's all about who he is as a person. James can have a sort of cocky exterior sometimes, but he's really great on the inside. He is sincere and kind, and he can almost always make me laugh. He knows me well enough to understand me, but still manages not to judge me harshly. I just feel wonderful when I'm with him."

"Good answer," Sirius growled. "But one last question. As his girlfriend, should you rank ahead of his best friends in James's life?"

"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed, surprised that he would even ask this. "I'm his girlfriend… not his mother. I mean, I wouldn't want him constantly blowing me off to be with his friends, but that doesn't mean I would want to keep him from you, either."

"All right," said Sirius slowly. "Let's take a vote. Who approves of Lily as James's girlfriend?"

He, Remus, and Peter all raised their hands.

"It's unanimous," said Remus. "Congratulations, Lily. You're the first girlfriend of his that we've all really liked."

"And hopefully the first girlfriend of his that you've ever brought down here for questioning?" Lily said with a laugh.

"You're the first to have made it past two weeks," said Peter, "so yeah."

"So, what's my prize for staying down here with you lot for this long?" asked Lily. "Obviously I deserve _something_ for my time."

Sirius grinned. "Want to be the fifth Marauder?"

Lily shook her head. "I'd rather not. I don't think I could do with the silly nicknames." She knew that the boys each had names for one another; she just didn't understand what those names stemmed from.

"Oh, but you must!" Remus exclaimed. "If you're going to be a semi-permanent fixture of our lives, you _have_ to have a nickname."

"Let's call her Flower!" suggested Peter. "You know, because her name is Lily."

"Let's not," countered Sirius. "It's too obvious. We need something better. Prongsette?"

"_No_." Lily refused to answer to that name, as much as she fancied James.

"What about Red?"

"Doe?"

"Princess Gryffindor?"

"How about Tiger Lily?" asked Remus. "It's kind of descriptive of her personality."

"Good idea, but we can't have her actual _name_ in it, remember?" Sirius paused for a moment before grinning again. "Let's just call you Tiger."

"Er… let's not," Lily argued.

"Tiger… because you _seem_ cute and cuddly on the surface, but when the claws come out, beware."

"Did I say James's _friends_ should come first? I think I must have been mistaken." Lily grinned.

"No matter, love. We're still going to call you Tiger."

* * *

James and Lily sat beside each other in the Head Commons, bantering about the day's activities. (As Head Boy and Head Girl, they had been given their own common room and bathroom to share, along with separate and private dormitories.) 

James had just finished telling Lily about the newest second-year on the Quidditch team, when Lily decided to tell him a more interesting anecdote of _her_ day.

"Did you know that while you were at practice, your friends tried to kidnap me?" Lily asked, now merely amused by the event.

James's eyes widened. "What did they do?!" he demanded, hoping that it was nothing too damaging. "When I see them, I'm going to…"

Lily laughed. "It's all right, James. Really. It was actually kind of sweet, in a strange way."

James calmed down slightly. "What do you mean by _sweet_?" he asked.

"They wanted to ask me questions about why I was with you, about what kind of girlfriend I would be to you. They said I'm the first girlfriend you've kept for longer than two weeks," Lily explained.

James nodded slowly, somewhat confused but nonetheless grateful that his friends had gone to such lengths for his sake.

"What did you tell them?" he asked.

Lily frowned. "About what?"

"About why you were with me?"

"I told them it was because you're amazing." Lily smiled. "And incredibly charming. And a really great snog."

James beamed. "You didn't tell them that?"

Lily shook her head. "I'll admit it- I'm greedy. There are some aspects of you that I just want all to myself."

"I thought so," James murmured, pulling her close to him.

"So now I have to ask," Lily said. "You've never kept a girlfriend for longer than two weeks. What makes me so different?"

"I thought we might try three weeks for a change," James joked. "But seriously… those other girls were just temporary and I knew that_ before_ I started going out with them. I wanted you for so long that I actually had _real_ feelings for you by the time I asked you out. In the long haul, this might not last forever, but we don't know that for certain. I always cared about you and I knew you were worth more than just a two-week fling."

Lily smiled. "Good answer," she told him, pressing her lips against his.

_Never gets old,_ James thought to himself as he kissed her back, hoping at that moment that Lily would become a_ permanent _fixture in his life.

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**Author Note: **Too corny? Maybe. Fun to write? You know it! I hope you enjoyed this crazy one-shot. Thanks for reading! 


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